Eliyanah/Yana • Yana lives with her mother and step-father in the village of Bethany. She and her mother moved to Bethany many years ago from Galilee. She spends her time helping to feed an
d care for the residents of the almshouse established by the Essenes, known simply as the bet–the house. Yana serves at the bet with Marta and Miriam. Twice each week they wash clothes for those too sick to wash their own, and daily they deliver hot bread. She is in love with her neighbor, Eleazar, and they have talked about marrying.
Eleazar/Ezi • younger brother of Miriam and Marta. He is better known by the Greek version of his name, Lazarus, which is a Greek corruption of his Hebrew name El’azar, also spelled Eliezer or Eleazar.
Eleazar tends to the flock of sheep that provides the milk for the bet and the villagers. A gentle and quiet man, Ezi has long planned to marry Yana but when plans are disrupted, he leaves Bethany. He meets Jesus and becomes one of his followers.
Alexander/Xander • A Greek slave of Oded and the brother of Diana. Xander is smart and educated and handles Oded’s accounts for him. His sister, Diana, also works as a house slave for Oded. Xander disapproves of Oded’s treatment of Yana, and women in general, and is quite protective of Diana.
Although he looks quite different from Ezi, Yana sees in him the same gentleness and compassion Ezi always showed her.
Oded • a wealthy spice merchant of Jerusalem. He contracts with Yana’s step-father to marry her. Oded is generous and successful, perhaps because he is the sole supplier of four of the eleven ingredients for the Temple incense. He wears a richly embroidered robe and a tunic of fine linen. He is also selfish and cruel and far too concerned about his reputation.
Oded wishes to marry Yana right away since he has no need to build a house and has everything in abundance. Yana’s step-father manages to convince him to wait until the few weeks between the dry season and wet season after the harvests are in.
Miriam • sister of Marta and Eleazar, better known by the Greek version of her name, Mary. In my book, she is the daughter of Simeon.
Marta • sister of Miriam and Eleazar and better known by the Greek version of her name, Martha. In my book, she is the daughter of Simeon.
Simeon • A man of Bethany who contracted tsara’at and was healed. He is better known by the Greek version of his name, Simon. Many scholars believe he is the father of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. In Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels it is clear that the anointing occurred in Simon the Leper’s house, while in John’s telling of the anointing of Jesus by Mary the same place is identified as Martha’s house. He is NOT the same man as Simon the Pharisee.
Basya • Basya is the wife of Elon, Oded’s younger brother. They have two children. Basya is Yana’s only ally in the home, helping her navigate her new responsibilities as the wife of a rich and powerful man.
Naomi • mother of Oded. Naomi is a hard woman who expects much from herself and those around her. She disapproves of Oded’s marriage to Yana, a Galilean. She enjoys her status as the daughter of Benaiah ben Shammai, one of the priests of the Sanhedrin, who is second only to Gamaliel, the Chief Priest.
Sarai • infant daughter of Oded and Yana. Her name means “my princess.”